SEATTLE (AP) — Breaking an unprecedented run of days this summer without frequenting their home waters, J, K and even possibly L pod southern resident orcas were recently seen on the west side of San Juan Island.
The Seattle Times reports that the endangered orcas had not been here this summer, except for one visit by J pod, in a brief lap around San Juan Island one day in early May. They immediately left. However, on Friday the Canadian Department of Fisheries reported that members of all three pods, were seen on the West Coast of Vancouver.
And Ken Balcomb, founding director of the Center for Whale Research, emailed the Times Friday morning and said: “J and K and maybe some L off my house in Haro Strait now.”
Still, the whales’ scarcity in what has long been their core summer habitat in the inland waters of the Salish Sea between the U.S. and Canada has scientists scrambling, with research scheduled but their star subjects nowhere in sight. Yet whale watch tour operators are having one of their best years ever. Sightings of transient orcas have reached unprecedented numbers, humpback whales are enjoying a spectacular comeback and gray whales, seals and sea lions also are keeping the tourists coming.